A statement from the royal palace in Monaco has just announced that Princess Charlene has given birth to twins by Caesarian section.
Gabriella Therese Marie and Jacques Honore Rainier were born just after 5pm local time, the statement said.
Despite the fact that the girl was delivered first and the boy second, the boy is heir to the throne owing to the strict male priority of Monaco's laws of succession.
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They are the first set of royal twins to be born since the foundation of Monaco, and will fuel speculation in the gossipy principality that Charlene, 36, and her husband Prince Albert, 56, sought IVF treatment to conceive.
Cannons were fired in the heart of the tiny principality, which is no bigger than Central Park, to celebrate the news. 42 cannon shots were fired to announce Wednesday's births, instead of the 21 that would have boomed for a single baby.
Albert is known to be the father of two 'illegitimate' children, Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, his 22-year-old daughter with a Californian woman, and Alexandre Coste, his 10-year-old son with a former flight attendant from Togo, in West African.
DNA tests were used to confirm Albert's status as father in both cases, following protracted legal battles.
